TOP DISHES

 

Gazpacho

Chilled tomato and vegetable soup originating in Andalusia, it’s often served with diced onions, green peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes for garnish, and sometimes croutons. Perfect for those hot beach days and packed with vitamins, it’s sold by the carton in most supermarkets and makes a great staple for the villa.

 

Jamon Iberico

Also called pata negra (black foot) or Jabugo (after the famous town that produces it), this is thinly shaved cured leg ham from at least 75% cerdo negro (black pigs), typically eaten with pan con tomate (garlic and tomato rubbed bread slices). Splurge and try the top-grade bellota, made from free-range pigs fed entirely on “acorns” from the cork oak tree, or stick to the more affordable grades: recebo (acorn, pasture and compound-fed) and campo (compound-fed pigs). 

NB: Serrano ham is an entirely different, much cheaper product made from a white species of pig and the closest Spanish equivalent to Italian prosciutto. 

 

Boquerones

These are nothing like the brown, salted flat fillets used in Niçoise and Caesar salads, but rather they are fresh white anchovy fillets marinated in vinegar and oil (sometimes garlic) and topped with fresh chopped parsley.

 

Cipperones

Battered and deep-fried baby calamari, French fries have nothing on these little suckers!

 

Padron peppers

Named for the famous town in Galicia, these tasty little green peppers are blistered on the grill with olive oil and topped with fresh sea salt. Just watch out, as the Galicians say "Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non" ("Padrón peppers, some are hot and some are not"). Now you'll find these on almost every menu in NYC, SF, Miami etc.

 

Paella

Said to originate from the Latin word for pan (patella), this Valencian speciality is perhaps Spain’s most iconic dish. Intensely fragrant, its consists of rice cooked with saffron, stock and any variety or combination of seafood, meat and vegetables.

 

Fideua

Another Valencian speciality, this is a variation on the paella theme with short angel hair pasta strands substituted for the rice and typically made with seafood.

 

Salt-baked fish

Usually bream or sea bass fully packed in a mountain of salt and baked in the oven, the result is a gorgeously moist, flavourful fish that is a visual treat when prepared and filleted tableside.

 

Raons 

We were first introduced to these small, seasonal fish that school in the waters between Ibiza and Formentera at Juan y Andrea, where they are lightly coated and fried to crispy, tender perfection, Ask for them if they're not on the menu.